I was thinking about Rouser2's assertion that medical students got experience with patients who were knocked out.
But I kept thinking about that, and I don't recall anything of the sort.
An Anecdotal tale:
When I was in the hospital for various chemotherapy treatments, very often the doctor or nurse would come in and say "this is so-n-so, he's a med student (it was also a teaching college). Would you be comfortable if he performed your [lumbar puncture/ bone marrow test/ blood test/ etc etc]. If I wanted to, as a child, I could say yes or no. I could also tell the student to stop doing what he was doing and let the doctor or nurse take over. The student never took offense; I never told them to leave, which I could also have done, but they also learned by observation.
This was a student who had gone through and passed several classes, exams, and proven themselves willing to learn. Some of them were married, some had kids of their own, some of them were people who had put their nose to the textbook all the way. How did I know? Because I talked to them. When they were doing something, or recording my readings, I asked them questions; what they were doing, for what purpose, and why they were doing it the way they were and how it worked. They explained to me what they were doing, and if I needed to understand better (I was 11 and 12 mind you), I'd ask for clarification.
Almost always the student thanked me for letting me do a task, or at least observing.
I had felt that the future of medicine was in pretty good hands.
But I kept thinking about that, and I don't recall anything of the sort.
An Anecdotal tale:
When I was in the hospital for various chemotherapy treatments, very often the doctor or nurse would come in and say "this is so-n-so, he's a med student (it was also a teaching college). Would you be comfortable if he performed your [lumbar puncture/ bone marrow test/ blood test/ etc etc]. If I wanted to, as a child, I could say yes or no. I could also tell the student to stop doing what he was doing and let the doctor or nurse take over. The student never took offense; I never told them to leave, which I could also have done, but they also learned by observation.
This was a student who had gone through and passed several classes, exams, and proven themselves willing to learn. Some of them were married, some had kids of their own, some of them were people who had put their nose to the textbook all the way. How did I know? Because I talked to them. When they were doing something, or recording my readings, I asked them questions; what they were doing, for what purpose, and why they were doing it the way they were and how it worked. They explained to me what they were doing, and if I needed to understand better (I was 11 and 12 mind you), I'd ask for clarification.
Almost always the student thanked me for letting me do a task, or at least observing.
I had felt that the future of medicine was in pretty good hands.
